Cyprus Mail: Press Review in English, 99-10-28

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From: The Cyprus Mail at <http://www.cynews.com/>

Thursday, October 27, 1999

Michaelides in the dock again

WHILE the government went on the counter-offensive over revelations about the involvement of politicians in the Immigration Department saga, one paper reported that a former Minister of Interior had done nothing after being informed about the goings-on.

Politis

claimed that former Minister of Interior Dinos Michaelides had been informed about the corruption at the Immigration Department but had chosen to do nothing. Two persons had repeatedly visited Michaelides and had given "corroborated evidence" about the irregularities in which the Immigration Chief Christodoulos Nicolaides and another official were allegedly involved.

The two persons, who had met the minister secretly, had been given assurances by Michaelides that he would pass on the information to the police and if there was a case he would suspend Nicolaides and the unnamed official. The paper noted that the two persons had also visited Michaelides' successor at the ministry, Christodoulos Christodoulou and gave him the information they had. Four days later Nicolaides and Immigration officer Nicos Vakanas were suspended.

Simerini

quoted Disy deputy Christos Pourgourides as saying that the Immigration Department was a "cesspool" when Michaelides was minister. Pourgourides also blamed former Interior Minister Christodoulos Veniamin for the corruption at the department, which, he claimed, had developed over the last 15 years.

Meanwhile, government spokesman Michalis Papapetrou went on the offensive. He attributed two objectives to those who were spreading rumours against politicians. First, they wanted "to criminalise the political life of Cyprus". Second, by publicising "ordinary irregularities" they sought to create the impression of all-pervasive corruption, which would "undermine the investigations into real corruption".

He also said that some of the officials under investigation "were trying to improve their position by throwing mud against the political world".

Machi

quoted the Minister of Justice and Public Order Nicos Koshis as saying that police investigators had found "very sound evidence", with regard to the visa scam, which would come as a shock to many.

Alithia

reported that the Cyprus Stock Exchange was "out of control" and that the situation had become "chaotic" once again. Fourteen public companies are in danger of being excluded on Friday, while eight brokerages, which have an 80 per cent share of the market, were suspended on Tuesday. The Exchange was returning documents, for no apparent reason, while thousands of investors were still awaiting share certificates.

All this contributed to the uncertainty, which made the fall of the share index by 36 points inevitable. Ironically, as a consequence of the chaotic situation, there was a full trading session as, for the first time the ceiling of 2000 transactions, set by the exchange, was not reached during pre-opening.

Haravghi

said that serious questions had been raised by the government's decision to allow a car importer to use the Paphos airport runways for a luxury car exhibition. The runways, which were close to the Andreas Papandreou air- base, were used despite the objections of the National Guard.

What was even worse was the fact that six Turks were among the guests of the importer and had a chance to drive the car on the runways, the paper said, adding that this was a breach of security.

Phileleftheros

reported that Britain was in favour of a rotating presidency for Cyprus. British envoy Sir David Hannay had raised this issue in his meetings with President Clerides. According to the report Britain has suggested a change of governmental system with a Greek Cypriot prime minister in charge of a weak central government.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1999

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